Nothing New……Until Now

[Jashawn's P.O.V: Backstory]

I had nothing but my hands. In this day and age, money is everything. Hungry? Yeah that'll be $19.99. That doesn't seem like much to anyone with a steady income but…..that's your life. I wasn't blessed with that type of luxury.

I was born in the projects, the ghetto, a place where the low class rot. It's riddled with crime, famine, sickness, drugs, and drug heads. Some people take drugs as a form of coping. My mom always had that type of problem. Other people sell drugs so they could feed their families. Some rob others because they can't work to get their own money. Maybe you have a grudge and you want someone dead. My dad...fell victim to such.

Growing up in this environment wasn't the greatest. It wasn't the best. But I was alive. My mom always had a Bible in the house. That was the only book I've ever read. I never thought it was a religion. I was only fascinated by the scriptures and stories that occurred. In this book, there were people who had worse lives than me. There were slaves, there were invaders, wars, the planet was flooded. I could predict what was happening next but I also couldn't. I loved it.

I wondered if there were other books like this. I was only a child, naive, sweet and innocent.

When I first picked up the book to ask my mother if there's more of it…..it didn't end well for me. She worshipped it as if it was going to save her… as if it was going to get her out of this mess. That was the first time in my life I ever pitied another human being before. Even with the bruises, even when I was bleeding, I thought "How is a book going to save her? Why is she praying to god? He isn't real?" If that book could help you then why beat me? If that book could help you, why was I 8 years old and still not in school?

I resented my mother but….that resentment didn't last for long. I thought "Relying on others got her here. I don't want to be like her." And after that, I'd leave the house based off her nighttime schedule.

There was nothing I could do while inside there. On my adventures, I learned a lot while only being 8 years old. There was this guy draped and glistening with rocks. He had women surrounding him walking down the sidewalk. I was curious about him. "Why're all these women following him? Why is he so shiny?" He walked pass me as if I didn't even exist. But still I tugged his fur coat and he stopped. What he said afterwards wasn't toward me even though I did it.

"Ay! Which one of you bitches pulled my coat! Do y'all know how much this costs?"

Costs? What does that even mean? At that time, I didn't know what money was. So whatever he said, didn't make sense to me.

"I didn't do that daddy." They all said something close to that. But daddy? We're they his children? Then why're they wearing such little clothes? Nothing made sense to me back then. But I had a feeling that this guy could change my world.

"I pulled your coat." I guessed a coat was whatever I grabbed and pulled. He looked back and then down.

"Oh, Don't do that again." And he started walking to the direction he was earlier after saying "leh(let's) go, bitches. My limo's awaitin." He sounded like my father but more arrogant. Father wasn't rich though. He was middle class. The projects were just cheap.

"Excuse me!" I yelled to the man. He stopped again, seemingly irritated. "Goddammit, WHAT!?" He looked back at me. I didn't know what he was yelling for nor did I care for the reason.

"What are those rocks on your um….." I pointed at his hand. He looked happy when I asked that.

"Oh this…hehe." He chuckled. "These are my beautiful diamond rings." He was more flamboyant now that he was a few seconds before.

"They costs a fuck ton."

"Costs?" I replied.

"Yeah, they costs a fortune."

"What's that?"

"Okay, they a lot of money to get."

"What's money?"

He was irritated. "How the fuck you not know what money is bitch?!" That's what he must've thought based off his expression. The only reason why he was holding back his tongue because I was a child in the projects. That's what I thought anyways.

"Are you fuckin with me?" He asked.

I tilted my head confusion. He ignored my bruises, scars, and dirty clothes until now but my lack of basic knowledge and common sense completed the puzzle. I remember this day so vividly because he taught me about business. He taught me about how to survive the projects. He taught me about the joys of life outside the projects. I wanted that.

And that strive, got me here today.

[The Present]

The Underground Chamber, a place where fighters walk in beat each other's asses and come out dead or alive. There are no rules here. Even so, I'm 20 - 0. I've been doing good even though I'm 18.

I've fought people who use steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, poison, concealed weapons, so I'm surprised I made it this far off resilience alone.

My mentor Cain, taught me well. I didn't have talent but I didn't care either. It's survival of the fittest and a lack of talent wasn't going to kill me.

This guy before me comes from Mexico. His names Alfonso I think. From what Cain told me, he's a master of Sambo, Krav Maga but mains in Iaido.

With that sword, I have to watch out for the initial slash. If I can get past it then I'd have the advantage.

[3rd P.O.V]

The announcer: ARE YOU READY!!!!!

Alfonso was in a meditative stance since he got into the ring. He was focusing not on the fight but on something within him. Something that's connected to him. He did this in every fight he's been in and it's said that he ends his fights in one stroke. Scary isn't it.

Jashawn got into a bouncy stance. Energy flowed to his feet with the slight bend of the knees which sent enough pressure onto the ground to slightly lift him off the ground. He repeated this process again and again.

No equipment, Jashawn only had black shorts that stopped above his knees and wraps around his hands, wrists, ankles, shins, and parts of his feet.

Alfonso had a traditional Japanese garment you'd find Kendo practitioners wear. Finally, he got into position. Before from a sitting position to a kneeling position. His ass was on his cabs or ankles and his hands were resting on his lap. He sat upright while glaring at Jashawn.

"Hehe, are you serious." He mumbled to himself. That chuckle was one of nervousness. He felt a pressure from this guy. A pressure he's only felt when he spars with Cain. Feeling that in an actual fight meant one thing. Alfonso was aiming to kill Jashawn.

Jashawn wasn't planning to do so but he must survive. He continued to bounce lightly. His legs muscles start to warm up as the cheering crowd fades from his ears. His focus, the only thing he could hear was Alfonso's breathing.

"Flow like a butterfly." He leaps a bit higher than before, being over 3 feet in the air.

Announcer: "FIGHT!!!"

Hearing this, the audience screamed louder. Then silence, "What?"

Jashawn had his foot on the end of Alfonso's sword while Alfonso was holding it the handle with the opposite hand.

"When did he get there??" Jashawn crossed 6 meters worth of distance before the audience could register.

Announcer: "AND IN A SPLIT SECOND!! JASHAWN CLOSES THE DISTANCE BEFORE ALFONSO COULD UNSHEATHE HIS SWORD!!"

"Boss wha-what did…what just happened?" The manager asked.

Cain was expressionless. "He used Flickering Dragon."

"Flickering Dragon?" Her confusion bar only increased.

"Flickering Dragon is a technique I made in my younger days. I taught him that so he could use it in this Global Highschool Tournament he's participating in but I guess he'd have no choice but to use it against him."

Flicker Dragon, a technique that uses the leaps as a distraction, using the opponent's concentration against them. Usually, one falls slowly to onlookers. This technique takes advantage of the sight of the onlookers by slowing the body down further. Then at the last second, the body drops to the ground. They transfer the weight of the body into the feet. This applies more pressure into the ground to propel them toward their opponent at high speeds.

"He must've been practicing that move ever since I taught him it." Cain added.

His cab muscles and thigh muscles contract as he kept the man's sword in the Saya(scabbard). Alfonso was in a predicament. That's what the audience thought.

"What-" A shadow… maybe it was a ghost. Whatever it was, Jashawn saw something behind Alfonso. Lined up on from his hip to his right shoulder was his skin splitting apart. Blood gushed out as he fell back.

Announcer: "THERE IT IS FOLKS!!! ALFONSO'S INFAMOUS PHANTOM BLADE!!"

"What just happened??" Puzzled, Jashawn stared into the lights on the ceiling.

"This fight was over once Jashawn entered the ring without protection." Alfonso's trainer laughed. It was an old man laugh that sounded rusty.

Jashawn got up. Blood hits the floor and his hand was over his chest. "That was too shallow....right?"

"Did I get attacked by a ghost?" He thought. Recalling the moments before he was slashed. Jashawn saw a transparent creature move behind Alfonso. The silhouettes reminded him of drawing a sword out of it's sheathe.

"I have to watch out for that." His wraps were dyed red from his blood. Getting back into position, he looked down at the man who sat in the stance since the beginning.

Jashawn, still confused thought of using feints to bait the apparition to come out again. That was until another scar overlapped the existing one. This one tore through his muscles.

"Huh?"

"SHAWN!!" Manager Cocoa yelled out.

A sword then pierced his chest, sliding through his heart like butter and out the back. He stood there with a shock on his face.

"So he still can't see it. So it's talent that won in the end, huh?" Cain sunk his teeth into his lip. Blood trickles to the floor.

Alfonso withdraws his sword from Jashawn's body. He falls into his own pre-existing puddle of blood.

"Wha-what just happened?" Alfonso swipes the blood off his blade and wipes it off with his arm and bicep before sheathing the blade.

"Did I lose?" The medical team rushed into the arena to see if they could save Jashawn but the wound was too grand.

Dying was like sinking in the ocean. Everything becomes darker and darker until nothing can be seen.

"Son, it's too soon for you to die.." An all too familiar voice reached out to Jashawn. "Am i hearing things?" Jashawn thought as his consciousness fades.

"I made a promised with someone to keep you safe. And this, is my last duty as a father."

Jashawn's soul reached forth. "Dad? DAD!!!"

He opened his eyes and he was floating in some type of fluid. The first thing he sees is the glass the fluid was contained in and a tube that holds a red haired man.

"I-" He opened his mouth and bubbles came out. Shocked, he held his breath immediately. "What the fuck? Where am I? What is this place?" Darkness plagued the Tubes one by one including Jashawn's tube. He felt his body rotting and being devoured. Bubbles flew out of his mouth from him screaming underwater.

Revealing himself from the shadows was a blonde haired tuxedo wearing man. The one and only, R.

"One was awake? The Jade Emperor said they were all failures. I should report this….. Oh?" The plagued liquid decreased in volume.

"His body is absorbing the Greed?"

One stroke, he broke the glass with a single punch and flooded out of the tube. He tried catching his breath but was coughing and vomiting out the fluid that entered his lungs.

Steam ascends from his body. His pigmentation darkens as his hair falls from crimson red to midnight black.

"…." R stays quiet.

"Huff…Huff….Where am I??" R was crouching right next to Dante.

"Your at Nox headquarters." R spooked Jashawn.

He opened his mouth and backed up but R put his hand over Jashawn's mouth. A barrier erects over the two in a very small area.

"Shhh, if the Jade Emperor finds out one of you survived I'll have to kill you."